Firefighters Barbecue

Murrieta Fire Department Battalion Chief Pat Jennings remembers the days when the annual Firefighters Barbecue was the social event of the year.

Jennings, 61, also recalls, as a kid, riding his bike down to the old fire station off Washington Street when the fire siren sounded, and occasionally turning that bike around and pedaling over to the fire.

“They’d always leave their doors open (to the fire station) and there was always a chalk board where they’d write down where the call was,” he said.

“If it wasn’t too far away, we’d ride our bicycles and see what was going on. You know, not much going on in Murrieta.”

No longer is Murrieta the remote farming and ranching community it was in the late 1950s, but the 66th annual Firefighters Barbecue scheduled for this weekend is still a big event.

Officials expect hundreds of people to make their way to Juniper Street on Sunday, where the street will be blocked off between Adams and Plum to make way for vendors booths and emergency medical services and firefighting static displays.

This year’s barbecue runs from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. outside the Fire Department Headquarters at 41825 Juniper St. It commemorates the forming of the local fire district on April 16, 1947, some 44 years before the actual incorporation of the city of Murrieta.

“We understand it’s the third longest-running event in Riverside County,” Jennings said. “The only two events we know of that have lasted longer than us are the Indio Date Festival and the Ramona Pageant.”

Food will include barbecue beef, beans, coleslaw, potato salad and rolls. Adult plates cost $9, children’s plates, for those 12 and younger, cost $7. A beverage is included with the meal.

In addition, local vendors will be on hand, including some area breweries that will serve in a beer garden.

There will be live music, a climbing wall and bounce houses, as well as firefighting demonstrations.

Jennings said that firefighters, who do the cooking, have ordered 2,000 pounds of beef.

Members of local Fire Explorer posts, composed of young men and women between the ages of 15 and 21 who are considering becoming firefighters, will vie in hose rolling and bucket brigade competitions.

Fire Department spokesman Matt Corelli said one of the highlights is the live fire exercise.

“We will burn a little room and show how quickly a fire takes off, and our actions (to suppress it),” he said. “The room is about 15 feet by 10 feet, but it gives off a lot of heat. Even from 50, 60 feet away.”

Jennings figures he’s attended more than 30 of the annual barbecues over the years.

“It was the social event of the town for years and years,” he said. “Even back when I was a kid, the old-timers from back then ... just everybody would come. ... We still get people from out of state. Or who, you know, grew up in this town that don’t live here anymore, come to see people they haven’t seen in a long time.”